Thursday, May 24, 2007

Are all Countries birthed by battle?

Many locals are relieved that former chairman Radjabu is in jail. Radjabu is a devout muslim who helped get the current president, Pierre Nkurunziza into power before being ousted by Pierre Nkurunziza and his party. Many people I've talked with here (except muslims) suggest that Radjabu has been responsible for many people "disapearing" or being imprisoned. I've heard it said that Radjabu "inspired" various people in leadership positions that do not promote Radjabu's agenda to leave their posts. Heavily funded by Islamic nations, Radjabu was not short of resources. Since being ousted, rumor had it that he was planning a coup d' etat. But then all the sudden on my birthday (April 27th) he was arrested. I remember driving home to lunch with Sara and Trina as Police directed us away from our usual route home, at the time I didn't realize we drive right passed Radjabu's house on our way home. Later that day we discovered that Radjabu was arrested at his home. Then a few weeks later Trina and I were walking to French class, when we saw a bunch of police in riot gear, and large crowds of people. As we walked around the police and crowds we said to each other things like: "I wonder what's going on here" and "when our French improves we'll be able to ask some of these people." Later that evening we heard that Muslims were rallying for Radjabu to be released outside the high court, and riot police were put on damage control. Apparently two people were injured. I guess I feel very humbled and privileged to see with my own eyes the building of a country. Almost as if I were visiting America in the first hundred years of it's development granted this is on a much smaller scale. But I feel like I get to see first hand the people that will be written about in Burundi history books. I see the people who come out on top, the people who get thrown in jail, the people that flee the country, the people who suffer great trajedy, the people who are beginning to thrive, etc. Anyway, here's a recent article on Radjabu:

Burundi's High Court has ruled that a former ruling party chairperson will stay in jail for a month before the start of his trial, his lawyer said.Hussein Radjabu was arrested on April 27 on accusations of trying to destabilise the tiny central African country of Burundi. He denies the accusations, saying they were fabricated by government's intelligence services. Prosper Niyoyankana, Radjabu's lawyer, said he was disappointed by the court's decision, made late on Monday, and would appeal for a provisional release of his client.Radjabu was ousted as boss of the ruling CNDD-FDD party in February, and several of his allies have also since been sacked from the government. Early this month police dispersed about 200 protesters who were demonstrating in support of Radjabu outside a court.CNDD-FDD came under scrutiny after it said last year it had foiled a plan to overthrow President Pierre Nkurunziza. The party denies allegations it invented the plot to quash dissent.Emerging from more than a decade of ethnic civil war that killed about 300 000 people, Burundi was seen as an African success story. But claims of corruption and rights abuses have clouded that.

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